Daqing Reborn Prince, Intercepting Si Lili at the Beginning

Chapter 37: Reward for Snatching Yang Wanli! The Maids of Wutong Courtyard!

“Student Yang Wanli greets Your Highness!”

In the central courtyard hall, Yang Wanli, still dressed in coarse linen clothing, bowed to Li Chengyuan.

“No need for formalities, relax,” Li Chengyuan said, then turned to Old Huang beside him.

Old Huang instantly understood and said with a smile, “Your Highness, it’s not that I haven’t taken care of him properly. I gave him new clothes, but he refused to wear them!”

Yang Wanli quickly explained, “Your Highness, it’s not Uncle Huang’s fault, I refused them myself!”

“Why did you refuse?” Li Chengyuan asked.

“I dare not accept rewards without merit!” Yang Wanli replied, bowing.

Impressive, Li Chengyuan thought, No wonder he’s the type to spill blood with honor. This integrity is worthy of praise.

Li Chengyuan didn’t beat around the bush and got straight to the point. “Yang Wanli, I admire you greatly. Would you like to become one of my disciples?”

Upon hearing this, Yang Wanli did not immediately agree. He pondered for a moment and asked, “If I may be so bold, Your Highness, if I were to join you, how would you arrange for me?”

Li Chengyuan replied directly, “That depends on you. If you want to become an official quickly, I can recommend you straight into the government. But if you have confidence in yourself, you can wait, work under me for a while, and then take part in the imperial examination in two years.”

After hearing this, Yang Wanli realized that Li Chengyuan genuinely intended to cultivate him, which made him feel at ease. Without further hesitation, he bowed deeply and said, “Student Yang Wanli is willing to serve Your Highness!

Li Chengyuan smiled with satisfaction at his response and said, “Very well. From now on, you are my first retainer. Now, do you want to enter the government immediately, or do you prefer to participate in the imperial examination?”

Yang Wanli, without hesitation, replied, “I wish to take the imperial examination, Your Highness.”

“Good, very ambitious. In that case, for now, help me manage a bookstore.”

“A bookstore?”

“Yes, I’ll explain it later,” Li Chengyuan said as he turned to Swordmaster Huang. “Old Huang, help him change into new clothes and gather the other retainers and Shopkeeper Zhao.”

“Got it, come along, Wanli!” Swordmaster Huang cheerfully led Yang Wanli out.

After they left, Li Chengyuan activated the system.

He had just heard the system notification.

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for snatching retainer Yang Wanli. You are rewarded with part of the maids and servants from Wutong Courtyard! (Note: This reward includes 81 people, which the host must publicly recruit to claim!)】

!!!

Well, well! Li Chengyuan couldn’t help but marvel.

Maid and servant rewards from Wutong Courtyard?

This was like someone handing him a pillow when he was just about to fall asleep!

He had been thinking about cleaning up the Prince’s Mansion!

Right now, the maids and servants in his mansion were a disorganized mess, and their abilities were mediocre at best! Li Chengyuan even suspected that, apart from Old Huang, Bluebird, and Sang Wen, the rest were spies from other factions. His mansion was like a sieve, with no secrets to speak of, forcing him to practice martial arts in secret.

But previously, there was nothing Li Chengyuan could do. He had no trusted subordinates of his own. Even if he expelled these people and replaced them, there was no guarantee that the new batch wouldn’t also be spies from other factions. So rather than randomly making changes, he had decided to put up with it for the time being.

Thankfully, this time the system had finally heard his plea and rewarded him with the thing he needed most—maids and servants.

And more importantly, these maids and servants were from Wutong Courtyard.

Wutong Courtyard was the exclusive residence of Xu Fengnian in Snow in the Pines. The maids and servants there were carefully selected. Each one had a particular skill, and none of them were slouches. Some of the maids were even more skilled than palace artisans.

What excited Li Chengyuan the most was that among the maids rewarded, Hongshu (Sweet Potato), Luyi (Green Ant), and Huanggua (Cucumber) were all included.

Especially Hongshu—she was not only a peak ninth-ranked expert, but also extremely adept at handling matters. She could get along with anyone and always knew how to gauge situations. She was undoubtedly the best candidate for a chief steward.

It’s worth mentioning that, originally in Snow in the Pines, many of the maids and servants in Wutong Courtyard were assassins or spies from various factions. However, since they were now rewarded to Li Chengyuan by the system, they would be absolutely loyal to him. There was no chance of betrayal, making them trustworthy to use.

With them, from now on, the Prince’s Mansion would no longer have to worry about leaks.

In a great mood, Li Chengyuan called over Bluebird.

“Your Highness!”

“Post a notice saying that the Prince’s Mansion is recruiting maids and servants.”

“Huh?” Bluebird was shocked. “Post a notice? Your Highness, that might stir up quite the commotion in the city!”

“It’s fine. I’m a prince, and it’s no big deal if I make a fuss now and then,” Li Chengyuan said casually. “Also, find an excuse to dismiss all the current maids, servants, and even the stewards, except for you, Sang Wen, and Old Huang. Give them a generous severance payment.”

After hearing this, Bluebird realized what Li Chengyuan was up to and nodded knowingly, “I understand, Your Highness!”

With that, Bluebird left.

Not long after Bluebird left, Old Huang returned with Yang Wanli, now dressed in new clothes, as well as the other retainers like He Zongwei.

Li Chengyuan was direct with these retainers. He immediately accepted them.

None of them refused, and they dared not refuse!

Afterward, Li Chengyuan assigned all of these retainers to Yang Wanli, making him the steward of the Prince’s Mansion.

Next, Li Chengyuan introduced Yang Wanli to Shopkeeper Zhao.

Shopkeeper Zhao had been arranged by Sir Thirteen to oversee the bookstore for Li Chengyuan. The bookstore preparations had already been underway for two days, with the venue, facilities, and staff all being organized smoothly.

Li Chengyuan introduced Yang Wanli to Shopkeeper Zhao, making Yang Wanli the deputy manager of Qian Kun Bookstore, assisting Shopkeeper Zhao in running it.

Although Yang Wanli was talented, he was a novice when it came to business. Making him the deputy manager was perfect, allowing him to learn from Shopkeeper Zhao and apply the knowledge in the future.

As for Qian Kun Bookstore, it was the name Li Chengyuan had given the bookstore.

Yang Wanli gladly accepted this arrangement. He didn’t reject it because of the low status of merchants, but instead showed great interest in running the bookstore.

As for He Zongwei and the other retainers, Li Chengyuan temporarily assigned them to the bookstore as well.

They would serve as editors, with their main responsibility being to write books.

After all, a bookstore couldn’t rely on Li Chengyuan alone to write books.

Unlike Yang Wanli, it was evident that these people weren’t as willing.

But Li Chengyuan didn’t care what they thought.

They were just retainers. Whoever wasn’t willing could leave. As a prince, Li Chengyuan didn’t have to worry about finding new retainers.

Regardless of their thoughts, Li Chengyuan assigned each of them a book to write.

He provided them with outlines and asked them to flesh out the stories based on them.

The outlines Li Chengyuan provided were ancient bestsellers from his previous life, such as The Romance of the Western Chamber and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

To avoid revealing his true identity, Li Chengyuan only provided the story outlines, without including character names or specific details, leaving it to the retainers to fill in the gaps.

In this way, the stories they wrote would be vastly different from the originals, ensuring that Fan Xian wouldn’t detect anything suspicious!

With so much to explain, Li Chengyuan spent a full hour talking to these people, ensuring that everything was clear.

Afterward, everyone left the Prince’s Mansion to head to Qian Kun Bookstore with Shopkeeper Zhao.